As the Trump administration moves to end Temporary Protected Status for more than 330,000 Haitians living in the U.S. — nearly half of whom reside in Florida — the U.S. state department is now urging anyone who travels to Haiti to prepare for their untimely demise.
As the Miami Herald first reported, the State Department is recommending that travelers to “high risk” areas in the world, including Haiti, “leave DNA samples with your medical provider and dental records with your family in case it is necessary for your family to access them to identify your remains.”
Former State Department officials described the advisory to the Herald as “crazy,” “wild” and unprecedented when contacted for comment on the advisory. U.S. Congressman Maxwell Frost, D-FL, told Orlando Weekly in a statement that the “hypocrisy and cruelty of the Trump administration knows no bounds.”
“If the Trump Administration truly believes Haiti is too dangerous for Americans to travel to, then it should also recognize that it is too dangerous to strip Haitians who have lived, worked, raised families, and contributed to our communities of their protected status and force them to return,” added Frost, a progressive in Orlando. “There is no moral or logical way to reconcile those two positions. Full stop.”
Florida is home to the largest population of Haitians who are living in the U.S. under the Temporary Protected Status humanitarian program. The program allows people from certain countries to temporarily legally live and obtain work authorization in the U.S. due to unsafe conditions in their country, such as ongoing armed conflict, a health epidemic or an environmental disaster.
The U.S. first designated TPS for Haiti following a devastating earthquake in 2010 under the Obama administration and the widespread displacement from the disaster that followed. TPS has been redesignated a number of times since for the Caribbean country due to “political instability,” public health crises and other major natural disasters, according to the American Immigration Council.
The end of TPS for Haitians living in the U.S., sought by the Trump administration, leaves beneficiaries of the program vulnerable to detention and deportation, effective July 24, 2026.
“We’re talking about people who have been in this country for, some of them, for over 20 years,” said Tessa Petit, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition.
“We’re talking about people that, after July 24, will not be able to work, will not be able to drive, will be afraid to even be seen on the streets because any interaction with law enforcement may result in detention and deportation,” she told Orlando Weekly. “Particularly in the state of Florida, where we have so many deputized law enforcement.”
Although a lawsuit filed last year challenged the Trump administration’s efforts to end TPS for Haiti, the U.S. Supreme Court last month cleared the way for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to move forward with the termination of TPS for Haiti, Syria and other countries as well, should DHS seek to do so.
Even as the Trump administration seeks to end TPS for Haiti, however, the State Department issued its latest “do not travel” advisory for the country as recently as last Friday, July 10. “Haiti has been under a national state of emergency since March 2024. This state of emergency remains in effect,” the advisory reads.
Recommendations from the State Department for U.S. citizens traveling to Haiti include: “prepare a will,” “consider hiring a professional security organization” and “establish a proof of life protocol with your loved ones.”
The State Department recommends that any U.S. citizens traveling to Haiti “prepare a will”
Petit said the do-not-travel advisory itself is confirmation that Haiti qualifies for TPS designation. “These are people who are going to start over. Some of them are older, who are going to start over in a country where there is no employment, no safety, there is food scarcity, no education, and no access to healthcare, and a high risk of of violent death.”
According to the Florida Immigrant Coalition, an estimated 158,000 Haitian TPS recipients reside in Florida, including more than 113,000 who lawfully work in the healthcare field through work authorization granted under TPS.
Other major industries for Haitians who are currently living and working in the U.S. under TPS include hospitality — including jobs at Orlando’s world-renowned theme parks — and agriculture. All are pivotal to Florida’s tourism-dependent economy.
“Non-immigrants need to be aware that somehow they get impacted,” Petit told the Florida Trib earlier this month, in response to the Trump administration’s efforts to slash work permits for immigrants. “They’re going to see that there’s not going to be grocery workers, no farm workers. The cost of construction has already increased in Florida because of the loss of construction. The cost of living is only going to get worse.”
The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, a powerful lobbying group for the restaurant and hospitality industries, joined its national affiliate last month in sending a letter to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, highlighting TPS holders’ contributions to the economy and begging for a 90- to 120-day transition period for employers and additional guidance.
“Immediate implementation would create significant staffing shortfalls for many hospitality
businesses, with serious negative economic impacts,” the letter warned. “A short, orderly runway would give employers time to adjust without a sudden operational shock at the height of summer.”
Plaintiffs in the legal case that reached the Supreme Court on this issue had argued that the Trump administration’s efforts to end TPS for Haitians were based on “racial animus,” in violation of the equal protection clause.
This argument came from ludicrously false claims made by Trump on the 2024 campaign trail that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio were eating the cats and dogs of their neighbors (as well as calling Haiti a “shithole country” and saying most Haitians trying to enter the United States “probably have AIDS“).
The opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito, issued late last month, however, dismissed this argument. “None of the cited statements by either the President or the Secretary was overtly racial, and in substance all expressed policy views that could rest on race-neutral justifications,” he wrote.
The U.S. House has already passed a resolution, with bipartisan support, to extend TPS for Haiti until Jan. 20, 2029. Supporters are urging U.S. senators to do the same and are calling on people to contact their U.S. senators to make the demand.
“We know the Haitian community cannot safely return to Haiti, and we will not ask them to return to Haiti during this time. So, we are asking Congress to act and to pass a bill to protect the Haitian community,” said Anne Piervil, director of the Haitian Lawyers Association, speaking at a press conference organized by U.S. Congressman Maxwell Frost in Orlando last month.
The Haitian Lawyers Association, she said, has been offering “know your rights” events, and will continue to do so. “We bring immigration attorneys, estate and will planning attorneys, criminal defense attorneys, and family attorneys, so you can get your house in order, so you can protect your assets, your wealth, your children, your homes, your cars and your mortgages. We have created a free legal hotline where you can call and get legal consultations from Haitian attorneys who speak Haitian Kréyol.”
“We are here to help, and we are here to serve,” she added. “We have fought this fight before, and we will continue to fight.”
